There is a class of tricks about which I must say a few words, viz., those that require to be exhibited by the help of magnetism, chemistry, galvanism, or electricity. I need not dwell long on them, for I do not consider them such as the young people, for whom these notes are written, can be recommended to devote their attention to, for the following reasons: in the first place, they are, with a few exceptions, attended with considerable expense. Secondly, the tricks connected with the powerful agencies of galvanism and electricity are dangerous to the unskilful operator; and, even in experienced hands, the most effective of them are uncertain things to manage; therefore their effect cannot be depended on.
Some very interesting tricks have, doubtless, at times been exhibited by the help of galvanism and electricity. We have read of a conjuror by such help confounding a powerful Arab, by first letting him lift with ease a box, and afterwards rendering it impossible for him to raise it, when an electric current had, to his dismay, paralyzed all his strength. It is evident that an experiment of this kind could not be safely attempted by any but a very experienced person. We read also of conjurors who have surprised their audience by receiving them in a dimly-lit theatre, and then firing off a pistol, (to startle the audience and cover the real mode of operation,) they have by electricity lighted upone hundred lamps at once. This has proved very successful on some occasions; but on others, notwithstanding the most careful preparation and the greatest precaution, it has been found that the apparatus would not act, and the impatient spectators have visited the disappointing failure with their indignant murmurs. Other conjurors have become so attached to electric experiments, that they have proposed to regulate all the clocks of a large district by electricity, or have amused themselves by turning electric or galvanic currents to the door-handles of their houses, so that unsuspecting strangers, on touching them, were startled with electric shocks. There is also a trick for rendering one portion of a portrait electric by a metal plate concealed under it, and the spectators being invited to touch some part of the picture, have, on touching the spots that were charged with electricity, received a shock or powerful blow, as if the portrait resented their touching it.
Having briefly given the character of this class of tricks, and stated that they not only require expensive apparatus, but are attended with danger to the inexperienced, there still remains another serious objection, viz., that, like the experiments performed by automaton figures or complicated machinery, they are liable to fail, through any trifling disarrangement, just at the moment when the performer is hoping that his audience will be delighted with his surprising exhibition.
For these reasons I shall not stay to describe the more elaborate of these tricks, as, however interesting they may be to the scientific, they would not, in a youthful amateur’s hands, be sure to produce the amusement which it is my primary object to supply.
The simpler experiments of magnetism and chemistry may well be regarded as recreations of science, interesting curiosities, suitable enough to be exhibited by a professor of chemistry for amusement and instruction; but even these can hardly be considered as belonging to “conjuring proper.” Young people do not care, at festive parties, to watch red liquids turning into green, blue, and yellow; or the mixture of different chemical ingredients producing strange conversions into varied substances;nor will experiments that are interesting as chemical curiosities produce the same excitement and pleasing surprise that the wonders of sleight-of-hand do. In a word, such experiments in a private circle of young friends fail to constitute the most amusing kind of parlor magic, while upon a public stage they are too minute for any large audience to trace and comprehend.
Lest, however, my young readers should think that I have any desire to shut them out from any field of reasonable pleasure, I will now carefully select one or two examples of tricks connected with the sciences of magnetism and chemistry, and which may, even in the hands of amateurs, produce a safe and pleasing exhibition.
In the following trick they will find an amusing instance of the combination of science with rational recreation.
The magnet is a well-known agent in producing several toys for the entertainment of the young, and though its attraction is wonderful, there is no danger likely to arise from employing it, in the same way as might arise from unskilful dabbling with electricity, galvanism, or chemical powers, and a strange and singular effect may be produced by placing a magnet of some little strength near a watch.
Supposing the young conjuror to have provided himself with a powerful but not very large magnet, let him conceal it in the palm, or under a thin glove in his left hand, or near the edge of the cuff of his sleeve. Let him then borrow a lady’s watch, (without chain,) and the thinner the watch-case is, and if it has a glass, the better. Let him then call forward a youth, and placing the watch in his own right hand, and near to the ear of the other, ask him if he hears it going: he will answer “Yes.”
Let him next bid the watch to stop; and on taking it in his left hand, where the magnet is concealed, it will stop, if held steadily; and on inquiring of his young friend whether he can hear it, he will reply “No.”
Observe: you must keep systematically to using your right hand when you wish to make the watch go on, and to your left when you wish it to stop. Appealing to others among the company, the performer may then tell the watch to go on, and holding it in his right hand, and giving it a slight shake, apply it toone of their ears; it will be heard “tic, tic;” then holding it in his left hand and telling it to stop, they will also find that it does stop. You can pretend to doubt whether they are all deaf of one ear, but lastly may declare that this is caused by the obedient disposition of the watch, which so orderly obeys your command. Remind your audience that savages upon first seeing a watch believe it to be a living animal with power to think and act of itself. “At any rate,” you may conclude, “the present watch seems to hear, to understand, and to obey my orders.”
It will be an amusing addition to the above trick to say that you will now order the watch to fly away and conceal itself.
You must for this purpose have provided yourself with an electro-plated locket resembling a lady’s watch, and have two loaves ready in some convenient corner.
When the watch has finished its “manual and platoon” exercise on the platform, you may say, “I will now place this watch visibly to all upon the table.” Turn round to go to your table, and in walking to it, substitute the locket for the watch, and place the locket on some spot visible to all. It will not be distinguishable from the watch by the spectators at six or eight yards’ distance from them. Conceal the watch itself in the palm of your hand. You can now exclaim, “I require two loaves,” and walking towards them, slip the watch into the one you have prepared with a slit in its side. Advancing to the audience, ask in which loaf they will prefer that you shall bid the watch fly. If they name the one in which you have concealed it, proceed to break open the loaf and find the watch. But suppose they name the wrong one: you then, remembering that the left hand of the spectators is your right hand, proceed with the true loaf, whichever they have named, or manage to cross the position of the loaves as you place them on the table.
Then taking up the locket with your right hand, make Pass 1, as if transferring it to your left hand, but really retaining it in your right hand (as described in my first paper.) Blow upon your closed left hand, and say, “Watch, fly into that loaf.” Clap your hands. It is gone.
Advancing to the loaf, get rid of the locket from your right hand; take up the loaf, break it open on the other side from that in which the locket was introduced, bring out the watch, and appeal to the lady to declare whether it is the same which she lent to you.
An experiment with a very mild dash of electricity in it, which will at any rate be a popular trick with most people that try it. It will do for a small entertainment, or at any joyous party ofyoung people. It does not, however, require a large number to be present, but, contrary to the usual scientific tricks, its development comes off better with one companion than with a dozen.
PREPARATION.
You must induce your cousin Jemima, or some other young lady who is just of age to have cut her eye-teeth, to consent to help you by accompanying you to a room with closed shutters and no candles. A moderate-sized looking-glass must be on the table, the smaller the better, for reasons below assigned. Have ready at hand some ounces of hard candy.
You commence the trick by placing yourselves, hand-in-hand, before the looking glass. If it is rather small, your heads will be the closer—in order to see the reflection of both at once. Then, with mouths as open as may be, try which of you can crush his or her share of sugar-candy with the teeth the quickest. In the glass will appear the reflection of sparks of electricity, as the experiment proceeds. If your companion is nervous, you can of course support her with one arm—ladies are sometimes susceptible, whether from animal magnetism or what not. The electric sparks coming between the lips may also be attractive, and you may be tempted to try whether the electricity evaporates the sweetness; but of course you must not be tempted to forget the philosophical nature of the experiment; and, if you behave with propriety, the lady will doubtless, on her return to the company, tell them, in a staid manner, that the experiment was all right; and perhaps when you see her, even a day or two afterwards, you will observe there is an arch dimple on her cheek and an electric sparkle lighting up her eye—and I should not wonder if you should feel a desire to try the experiment over again.
PREPARATION.
You must have a wine-glass, a saucer, and a teaspoon, and the chemical bottles No. 1 (silicate of potash) and No. 2 (aluminate of potash,) which can be obtained from any druggist.
At the close of some trick in which any young friend has assisted, you can say:“Well, my young friend, you have assisted me so courteously and well that I must, in order to express my thanks, ask you to take a glass of wine. Do you like wine? Ah, I see by your smile you do.”
Pour out of bottle No. 1 half a glass, and, going towards him, stop short and say: “Ah, but I am afraid your mamma would be displeased with me if I gave you wine so strong without any water, and I should be sorry to tempt you to drink what she would disapprove. Stay, I will mix a little water with it.”
Mix some of No. 2 bottle, so as to fill the wine-glass, and say: “Oh, never mind losing the pure wine; I dare say you will like it very well as it is,” and make a few chatty remarks, to give the liquids time to mingle their effects in the glass; and after a minute or two say: “Ah! I’ll tell you what I am sure your mamma would like still better—if I could give you some calves’-foot jelly. Now, I really believe, if I were to stir it with this teaspoon, and try my magic wand over it, I can turn it to jelly. Let us try.” Occupy a little time while it is becoming like jelly, and go on with a little more talk till you see that it has become solid. Then say: “Well, after all, I will not deprive you of your wine; so here it is. Please drink it.” Putting it to his lips, he will find it has become so solid that he cannot drink it, but it can be turned out quite solid into the saucer, and a general laugh will greet him on the disappointment of his wine.
Having submitted a few remarks upon the class of tricks that are to be performed by help of the sciences, magnetism, chemistry, etc., and having stated my reasons for my not more fully discussing them, I will now proceed to give an explanation of one or two more that are better suited for the practice of amateurs.
PREPARATION.
You must have two narrow tapes of about four feet long, bent as in Fig. 11. Red tape I prefer.
You must next insert about half an inch of A through the loop of B, and bring it back down on the other part of A.
A spool such as cotton is wound on, or an ornamented ball with a hole drilled through it, just large enough to hold the tapes lightly, will be required (Fig. 13.)
Figs. 11, 12.
Figs. 11, 12.
Fig. 13.
Fig. 13.
Fig. 14.
Fig. 14.
The spool or ball must be put on the tapes at the extreme ends of the tape B, and drawn to the left, till it just covers the noose at K. as in Fig. 14.
N. B.—All the above should be prepared before the spectators are invited to witness the trick.
Commence the exhibition by calling upon the spectators to observe that you hold a reel, or ball, through which two tapes are passed.
You may then produce two more spools, or wooden balls, and place one of them over the ends at A, and the other over the ends at B.
Fig. 15.
Fig. 15.
The following will then be the appearance of the balls or spools and the tapes passed through them (Fig. 15):
You may move about the spools 2 and 3, to show how the tape runs through them, but you must not move spool 1.
You may then say that the puzzle is to get the spools off the tapes while the four ends are held firmly in the hands of four persons. Appoint four persons to hold them, and you may then say: “To make doubly sure, I will tie one of the ends at A to one of the ends at B with (the first half of) a knot.” It does not signify which ends you take to do this, so that you take one A and one B. “I will now pull these two ends so tight that it will draw the three spools together, and also tighten all along one side of them.”
Fig. 16.
Fig. 16.
Then, while four persons hold firmly the extreme ends of the tapes, you must take shorter hold of the two A’s with your left hand, (where it is marked by a dotted line, Fig. 16,) and also take hold of the other tapes where a dotted line is marked on them towards B. Then drawing your arms wider apart, so as to pull the tapes steadily, the spools or balls will fall to the ground without passing over the ends of the tapes.
PREPARATION.
Have five or six yards of tape about three-quarters of an inch broad.
Take half the length in each hand. You will be able to show the audience that you are about to cut it in the middle, by holding it in two loops of equal length. Call their attention pointedly to the equal division of the full length.
The tape will thus appear to the performer in the position represented in Fig. 17.
Observe the tape A crosses at z the tape B on the side next to the performer, whereas the tape D is to cross the tape y on the side farthest from him.
Fig. 18 represents the hands as they appear to the performer himself, holding the tape with the thumb and forefinger at the crossings of the tape at y and z, while the outward sides of each loop are to be held by the three other fingers of each hand.
Fig. 17.
Fig. 17.
Fig. 18.Left Hand,Right Hand.
Fig. 18.Left Hand,Right Hand.
To proceed with the trick: Holding your hands in this position, (Fig. 18,) you must request one of the spectators to cut through the tape at x, but just as he is about to do so, you must quickly lower your hands two or three inches, and then raise them again. This movement will conceal the following operation. You drop the part (B) of the tape held in your right hand, and at the same moment pick up with that hand the other tape marked C.
This will bring the portion of tape from C to D, so that it now becomes the transverse tape, substituted in place of the tape marked x, and your young friend will then cut it—instead of the original tape marked x—without being aware that he is so doing.
When the tape has been cut through, you can put your hands near together, allowing the two ends of the little piece of thetape—C D—to be seen, but concealing from the spectators that you have hold of two pieces, one a very long one, and the other only about five inches long. You can then say: “Now I have to join these two ends, and to restore the tape whole as at first.” You then turn the little piece C D round the piece y, which is in your left hand, and you tie a knot with the ends of that little piece. You must not tie this knot very tight, and after you have tied it, you drop the other end of the tape altogether out of your right hand.
Fig. 19.
Fig. 19.
The appearance which the tapes will then have is represented in Fig. 19. That is, you will seem to hold the equally divided pieces of the long tape joined in a knot at y, whereas in fact it is only the small end piece C D, tied round the middle of the long tape, which you hold between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand. Exhibit the knot to the company, and say: “I admit that this knot hardly looks like a perfect restoration; I must employ my best art to get rid of its unsightly appearance.”
Ask some one to hold, at about three yards’ distance, the end marked with small d, retaining hold of the centre—at y—in your left hand, which quite covers the knot. Tell your friend to wind the tape round his hand, and, while pretending to show him how to do this, by winding the part which you hold round your left hand, slide away towards your right the loose knot under your right hand. Then, holding out the end of the tape A towards another friend, to hold at about three yards’ distance to the right, slip from off the long tape the little movable knot under your right hand, just before he takes hold of this end of the tape. Conceal in your right hand the little end-piece of tape, until you can get rid of it into your pocket, or into any unobserved spot. Blow upon your left hand, which is supposed still to cover the knot, saying: “Knot, begone!—Restore!” Take up your left hand, and show the tape to be free from any knot, or join from one end of it to the other.